


Filius Flitwick: Origin

by IHateCheddar



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood purity, Flitwick being cheeky and cute, Gen, Goblins, Mrs. Flitwick being a sweetheart, Origin Story, The Sorting Hat, half-breed politics, heriitage, learning the truth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-10
Updated: 2019-10-10
Packaged: 2020-12-07 19:09:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20980913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IHateCheddar/pseuds/IHateCheddar
Summary: Filius couldn't believe his eyes, the letter in his hand must be mistaken, right?





	Filius Flitwick: Origin

**(I don't own Harry Potter or its characters)**

* * *

Filius Flitwick stared at the paper in his hands with absolute glee. Surely, they couldn't be that stupid, could they?

He'd known it all his life; goblins just weren't treated the same way humans were. That was fine by them - the easier it is to stick with the old ways, the Elders say.

But here, in his hands, was his ticket. Written in glorious green, on the yellowest of paper, was his Hogwarts letter. Him! A goblin! Could such a thing even be possible?

It didn't really matter, Filius supposed. Running down the hall, he opened the door to his mother's study. Oh, won't she just get a laugh!

"Filius," His mother chided, turning around as she offered him a toothy smile, "What have I told you about running in the tunnels? You'll cause a collapse if you aren't careful."

"Sorry, mum," Filius said, easily mollifying the woman with a twinkle of his eye, "It's just.. Well look! I got a Hogwarts letter -- they must've made a mistake -- but they've already invited me so I can go, this might just be our chance to really change things."

While Filius was too excited to notice at first, he soon looked up from his letter when he noticed his mother wasn't chattering along with his ideas for revolution. A sad look had settled onto her face. "Mum?"

"Filius, I think we need to have a talk," Mrs. Flitwick started, gesturing for her son to follow her to the kitchens. She seemed to be trying to avoid her son's eyes for as long as possible.

Taking a seat, Filius stayed quiet while his mum made them some tea. He knew not to say anything as his mum added something stronger to hers.

"Filius," She began, "You know I love you, right? More than anything in this world, I do."

"Of course," Filius exclaimed, before confusion settled on his face. "Mum what is this about?"

"Your father."

That was enough to make Filius's blood run cold, and an angry fire settled in his stomach. His father was the worst of the worst. Honestly, who had ever heard of a goblin running off and leaving his pregnant mate behind?

Sighing, Mrs. Flitwick took a generous sip from her cup, "Hells and Chips, I didn't think this would be so hard, y'know? More like pulling a bandage off than pulling a dagger out of your gut."

"Mum," Filius said, swallowing thickly, "Whatever it is you have to say, just say it. What does this have to do with Hogwarts?"

"Your father was a wizard," Mrs. Flitwick said, closing her eyes as her grip tightened on her teacup. "You're a wizard. That's why you got your Hogwarts letter. You're a half-breed."

And just like that, Filius felt a little less gleeful about the prospects the letter in his hands would bring.

* * *

Looking in the mirror, Filius just didn't see it.

Him? Human? Get out of here.

Sure, he didn't have nearly as many warts as his classmates, and his skin wasn't green -- but not everyone had a whole lot of warts, and most people just took his skin for light albinism. It just wasn't possible, his mother had to be mistaken,  _ Hogwarts _ was mistaken... There was just no way.

There was no way that he, Filius Flitwick, wasn't a goblin.

"Filly..." His mother tried, leaning on the doorframe of their bathroom. "Are you okay?"

"What am I?" He croaked, looking up at his mother as his decidedly  _ not _ beady eyes started to leak salty tears. "Am I.. Am I really human?"

Wrapping her son up in her arms, Mrs. Flitwick said a phrase that Filius would carry for the rest of his days, "You are neither a human nor are you a goblin, you are a beautiful combination of our worlds and struggles. But, most importantly, you are my son."

* * *

The next two months were quite a hassle for Filius. Firstly, they had to send his letter back, confirming he'd be starting his first term at Hogwarts next September. Secondly, he'd have to tell his friends; this wasn't something he was going to let himself be ashamed of.

Glook Gobber's had the worst reaction by far: he'd thrown his lunch in Filius's face and declared him an outsider and claimed that, by accepting his Hogwarts letter, he was betraying them all. While not many of his other classmates verbally agreed, Filius certainly noticed the avoidance of several of his friends whenever he went to the rock quarry.

That was fine, he decided. If they would turn on him so easily just because of his blood status, then they were no better than humans in Filius's mind.

That was why today was a big day for him, the day his mother was taking him to get his Hogwarts supplies. While it was true all goblins could perform magic, it was also true that it was illegal for a pureblooded goblin to purchase a wand, so Filius couldn't help but feel giddy about getting around such a stupid rule.

They saved it for last, of course. Getting boring things like his robes, and books, and potion equipment (he was really going to learn how to make potions!) came first. While he could have also gotten a pet, Filius didn't feel he'd quite enjoy the thing for much less than experimentation or a light snack, which he was sure he could get the same enjoyment from whatever his dorm-mates had gotten.

Ollivanders was the best wand shop in all of England, so it would have been a crime to get his wand anywhere else. Walking into the shop, Filius felt a tingle rush up his spine signaling a charm was on the door, before a thin old man with moon-like eyes stepped out from behind a shelf.

"Mr. Filius Flitwick. I've been expecting you."

_ An identification charm then _ , Filius decided. Certainly useful when manning a shop with such an expensive product.

Flashing Ollivander a toothy grin, Mrs. Flitwick said, "We're here to buy my son a wand. I trust you're up for the job?"

Moving forwards, Ollivander’s eyes gleamed. "Yes of course! Which hand is your wand hand?"

"Uh... My wand hand?"

"The hand you write with," Ollivander explained, "Your more dominant hand, as Muggles tend to call it."

"Left," Filius decided, holding up the arm decidedly. While lesser men may have jumped when measuring tape whirled out of nowhere and started taking Filius's measurements, the eleven-year-old boy couldn't help but watch them work with excitement. 

It took a while, but Filius couldn't deny how great it felt when his fingers latched around his flexible, 15" redwood wand. The unicorn hair core seemingly tickled his soul as he practiced brandishing the stick as they exited the alley, ignoring the glares some wizards gave them.

* * *

Filius was nervous, he couldn't deny that. Would anyone sit with him? Would anyone even want to be his friend?

It was a stupid thing to wonder; these were humans, after all. Why should he even bother giving them the time of day?

_ Because you're human too _ , a little voice reminded him.  _ As human as you are goblin, anyway. _

Sniffling, his mother locked him in a tight hug before holding him out at arms length. "You're sure you've got everything packed? You know you can always owl--"

"Mum I'll be  _ fine," _ Filius insisted, more for her sake than for it being true. "I'll be fine. Now please go and let me board or the humans will take all the window seats."

"Oh.. Well, okay," Choking back a sob, Mrs. Flitwick leaned in and gave her son a slobbery kiss before finally letting him go.

Filius, much to his luck, soon found an empty compartment and settled by the window. He waved to his mother as the train started to pull out of the station, right until she was out of sight.

Alone, Filius pulled his charms book out of his bag. It wasn't like anyone would want to sit with a goblin boy anyways.

* * *

"Excuse me, can I sit here?"

Head snapping up, Filius was surprised to meet the grey eyes of a brown-haired witch.

Biting her lip, the human girl continued, "My sister kicked me from the Slytherin compartment, you see. She doesn't much like my boyfriend."

"Why don't you go and sit with him, then?" Filius asked, closing his book.

"Ted graduated last year," The mysterious witch explained, "So can I..?"

Looking back down, Filius shrugged. "It's not like I'm going to stop you."

Taking a seat, the brown-haired witch took out her own book -- a seventh year potions textbook -- before allowing them to settle into a comfortable silence.

They stayed that way until the train pulled into the station. Then, the girl collected her suitcase with a natural elegance that screamed old money before turning to Filius with a smile. "I'm Andromeda, by the way. You're a first year, right?"

Nodding, Filius started putting his book back. "I'm Filius Flitwick."

"You'll want to look for this humongous man named Hagrid," Andromeda explained, "He takes all the firsties up to the castle for their first go, and don't worry about the sorting. Just listen to the hat."

"Andy get your arse out here!"

Rolling her eyes Andromeda puffed, "That'd be Alice. I've got to go. Good luck!"

Watching the woman hop off the train, it occurred to Filius the witch hadn't even commented on him being a goblin. Smiling, he started heading for the man yelling "Fir' Years!" loud enough that he could hear him from the train. This might go a bit better than he expected, if there were more students like Andromeda around.

-

Saying Hogwarts was beautiful was putting it lightly; it was the most magnificent castle Filius had ever seen! Stepping inside, seeing the charmed ceiling made to resemble the night sky, he just about fell over.

A woman named Professor McGonagall started explaining the sorting, how it was to decide which house they'd all be in for the rest of their Hogwarts careers. Being a goblin, Filius knew next to nothing about this, though for the first time, his human peers seemed to share his predicament. Stress was practically rolling off the horde of them like a tidal wave, kids reciting spells and some saying something about killing trolls, others whispering about being disowned for being in one house or another.

But Filius remembered what Andromeda had said, not to worry, and to listen to a hat? Filius didn't quite understand what she meant until McGonagall brought out the Sorting hat. An old, ragged had with a huge tear down the middle, which, curious enough, opened up revealing the hat could talk! It was obviously a beautiful piece of charmwork, if the way it sang and interacted with everyone was anything to go by. Then, he really understood what Andromeda meant, as the only thing to the sorting was putting the hat on and letting it tell you where to go. It couldn't be more easy!

Filius was one of the last to go up. The whole Great Hall went silent when they caught sight of him -- him, a boy who was most obviously a goblin, walking up and putting their precious sorting hat on his goblin head. Even if he was more pink than green.

_ "Now what do we have here?" _ A voice said, resounding in Filius's brain.

_ Oh wow! _ Filius thought.  _ Are you talking inside my head? How does that work? _

He heard a laugh, before the hat said,  _ "You got quite an active mind, haven't you? Figuring out all sorts of ways to play your predicament to your favor, learning as much as you can from your textbooks before term even starts, and even now you try to guess as to how I work. I think I know where to put you." _

_ And where would that be? _

_ "You're most certainly, _ Ravenclaw!" The hat shouted, the last part aloud for everyone to hear as clearly as if they had the hat on themselves.

A beat of silence greeted Filius before the hall clapped as they did for everyone else, but Filius didn't quite care. This was just the beginning, his origin story if you will, the real adventure started now, in Ravenclaw.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for a competition on Fanfiction.net with Filius as the prompt


End file.
